noun

dormitory

DOR-muh-tor-ee/ˈdɔːrmətɔːri/

A room or building where students or other residents sleep.

The dormitory contains shared sleeping rooms with paired beds and study desks.

A compact cutaway of a student residence building reveals several shared sleeping rooms connected by a common corridor.

Etymology

The pieces describe a ‘place for sleeping,’ originally a room or building in a monastery or nunnery. That function remains central in the modern sense of a residence building for students or workers.

In context

Kulturwerk studierendenWERK BERLIN0:11

the student vac offers dormitories where students in berlin can live and many of those dormitories have tutors who help students with issues at the dormitory

Let’s Talk With... a Dormitory Tutor at the STW Berlin

More examples

The camp's dormitory has twelve beds in one large room.
First-year students share rooms in two dormitories near the library.
The hospital provides a dormitory for nurses working overnight.

Forms

dormitory · dormitories

dorm noun — An informal shortened form of dormitory.

Similar words

bunkhouse: Usually houses workers, rather than students, in shared sleeping quarters.
barracks: Specifically houses soldiers, often in shared rooms or buildings.
hostel: Provides inexpensive lodging for travelers, often in shared rooms.